


The infinite versions of us

by Blushing_starker



Category: Alice in Wonderland (Movies - Burton), His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Daemons, Ariadne needs coffee, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Black Widow - Freeform, Dom Cobb Being an Asshole, Eames is tired, German Shepherds, Idiots in Love, Japanese red fox, Kissing, M/M, Original Character(s), Peacocks, Slow Burn, Weasel - Freeform, cursing, dream husbands, just a bit though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:28:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25834252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blushing_starker/pseuds/Blushing_starker
Summary: His good mood shatters, disintegrates as soon as there’s a blue cat grinning at them maniacally from two feet away. Their environment holds dusty playing cards drinking tea, rabbits hollering about the time, chess pieces dancing with a mad hatter and what he can only assume is a dragon purring at Eames. Cobb hides from Arthur then, ducks behind Ariadne to avoid the hurtled teapot. Technically, Saito was the one that asked for the favor. But he can’t blame him for this, for trying to help his niece overcome this experience. Arthur can, however, throw another tea set at his best friend for not explaining the hazards of this job. All the team had to go on, all Saito had to go on even, was that a kid’s dreams weren’t meant to be structured, couldn’t be shaped the way an adult’s could. Out of the six of them, Cobb had been the only one to dream share with a child before, so they looked to him for guidance. That did nothing to soothe their anxieties since his exact advice was “Expect the unexpected”. Well, the whole Wonderland theme was definitely unexpected.
Relationships: Arthur/Eames (Inception), Dom Cobb/Mal Cobb
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2
Collections: Inception Big Bang 2020





	The infinite versions of us

**Author's Note:**

> Due to power outages after a storm passed, I was unable to publish the complete story. As it is, I'm working with a generator, but it can't run for many hours. The past two weeks have been composed of travelling between houses (we're moving), making sure no articles were ruined from termites and water leaks (several things were lost), buying groceries only to lose them when the lights went out again, getting ready for school (I start tomorrow) and planning when we could buy a new generator in case my uncle needed his back. I won't publish the whole story tonight, but this is the last day of the extension so I thought it best to at least show the first chapter. Another storm is coming (of course it is) so I am unsure of when the whole thing will be here. Nonetheless, I will be posting it here when the opportunity arises. 
> 
> I'd like to thank Chris for being so considerate of my situation and offering encouragement.
> 
> Special thanks to the creators of this amazing project, this event was a joy to participate in.
> 
> I'm shippinggirl2424 over at Tumblr.

The professor’s plea

The job was never going to be easy. Not while Dom Cobb was around him and eager to delve further into the subconscious mind of whoever pissed off their client. Technically, the community believes them to be best friends. Arthur’s life would be substantially less at risk if that were the only layer to their relationship. But the universe hates him and dropped a daredevil into his lap, believing Arthur’s mother hen instincts would kick in. They did. Unfortunately. Which means he has a front row ticket to the whirlwind that is one Mal Cobb. If his life was in danger near his new thirty something year old ward, it was a miracle Arthur survived missions with the Mrs. 

It’s odd, being adopted into the family so thoroughly. Although they prefer to work together, their interests don’t always coincide. Arthur can go months without seeing the Cobbs. He misses them, so much so that he’s surprised it aches whenever a fluffy teddy bear and a toy truck remind him of Pippa and James. The universe had dropped a daredevil into his lap, and that came with a thousand risks. But it had its perks. Like being invited to the kids’ birthday parties, attending the vow renewal of Mal and Cobb and meeting professor Miles. The man was a genius, the leading researcher in dreamscapes. So it surprises him when he receives an envelope, asking Arthur to drop by for tea and, in his case, coffee.

The blackboard is filled with drawings, complex formulas and mathematical equations that remind him of high school. He understands maybe 2% of it. If that. But the man in front of Arthur doesn’t make him feel less than, doesn’t act like the entitled assholes that had dismissed his ability to grasp the technical side of the dreams. 

The professor sets down the tea cup and he sees it then. The resemblance between father and son is obvious in the delighted gleam found in blue eyes. He unbuttons his jacket, sinks further into the chair and lets the mother hen instincts take over. When Cobb looks at Arthur that way, it usually results in him explaining all the wrong things that could happen with a new concept his best friend wants to try out in the field. It also ends in Arthur saying fuck it and rolling with the plan. If Cobb does something stupid, he’ll be there to yell ‘I told you so’ and help the daredevil survive. How different could father and son be when they have the same drive and unquenchable thirst for knowledge? 

Arthur has a radar for approaching ideas that will give him a headache. It very rarely fails. He doubts this meeting will end in a stress free manner.

Cobb Senior arches an eyebrow at his sudden change of posture, smiles when Arthur just sighs and spreads his hands. He might as well be comfortable for this.

An hour later and the migraine is in full swing, the coffee has disappeared and the weather outside matches his mood. Lightning strikes a tree nearby, thunder roars, the whole deal. He’s too busy trying to focus on breathing to actually refuse the professor’s proposition. 

“I don’t trust the dynamic between them anymore. Something’s changed since they came back from the last dream. Mal has never exactly been chirpy, but the woman could smile at you and all your troubles would go away. Now, now it’s like she doesn’t trust reality. I caught her staring at Pippa and James the other day. Normal, you’d think. But I have never seen a colder stare in my entire life, Arthur. My son won’t be able to confront the situation and if he does, the result won’t be pretty. What I am asking you to do is be observant of them. See if anything odd happens during the next job. Maybe Mal won’t go and Cobb will loosen up a bit. Please, you’re the only person I can trust with this.”

The migraine tears through him, vision going white and Christ, the last time his head felt so unsteady was when Mal started going into labor while in a mission. Cobb had been searching for the safe crammed with secrets and she’d shot him point blank then pulled the trigger on herself to leave the dream. 

The client had promised twice the usual amount if the five-person team pulled it off and Mal refused to endanger their chances of a big pay day by getting Cobb to accompany her. Arthur had struggled that year, finances just too insufficient for him to say no to the job. When Mal had ushered them into a cab and screamed at the driver to start moving, he’d been too paralyzed to do much more than grasp her hand and rip holes onto the seat. They held hands during the drive and preparation, Arthur only going away to grab some water for her. If what Mal needed was support, then he’d gladly sacrifice the nerves in his fingers.

Arthur had slipped inside the delivery room again, ready to hold Mal’s hand, but Cobb was there with Philippa already in his arms. The joy was addictive and he still felt it whenever he saw their first born child. Those few days in the beginning were wonderful. The headaches and guilt came later, when he realized that Mal could have given birth without her partner by her side because of Arthur.  
A week before Philippa was due, the three of them had gathered for dinner. It was then that he’d explained his situation to Mal while Cobb got them drinks. Half a decade later, he can see the determination settle on her shoulders as clear as day. But Arthur had three pints that day and nothing seemed different. Just hours later, they were calling him for a job. Mal had convinced the client the heist could be pulled and it was successful. Still though, the guilt had settled around him for days. If it hadn’t been for her quick thinking and Cobb’s skill at cracking safes, they wouldn’t have met Philippa for the first time as a couple. If they hadn’t taken the job, Arthur would have probably needed to go back to his old job. The hair on the back of his neck stands just thinking about it. The Cobb’s were his saviors. And here was the professor, asking him to –

“You realize you’re asking me to spy on them, right? The people that I trust with my life, the only people that helped me through some of the worst times in my life. They almost made me Pippa’s godfather. The one reason they didn’t was because I felt guilty Mal’s brother wouldn’t have that chance if I said yes. And now you want me to spy on them? I can’t do it. It’s not that I won’t do it, it’s that I can’t physically do this. Have you seen me around them? I look away when they kiss so they can have privacy. Listen, I get you’re worried. I do. But I will not spy on them. And there’s no point even considering this because I have three jobs in one month plus an event back home. I haven’t seen them in two weeks and Cobb hasn’t mentioned anything. Neither has she. We’re like that, we give each other space and then act like siblings when we’re together. Doing our jobs. Stealing people’s secrets and running way from projections that want to kill us.”

By now, the rain has stopped pounding against the paved streets. It transforms into a drizzle, slowly and steadily. The man across from Arthur looks heart broken and he’s always had a weakness for the Cobb family. Sighing dejectedly for the millionth time in this conversation, he buries his head in his hands and refuses to believe the universe could be so cruel. Of seven billion people, why was Arthur tasked with loving the stubbornest family to ever exist? 

“After next month, I’ll see if we can get any more jobs together. Maybe talk with them alone and figure things out. I’m not promising solutions, just something to try. Convincing those two to reveal the problem over the phone is useless and it’ll be suspicious if I just happen to be in town after whatever it is occurred,” the sentences are barely audible through his hands, but Arthur figures the professor has enough practice with awkward teenagers to understand, “Let me find a client and the three of us can take all the time needed. I’ll most likely be sitting in the middle while they fight, but who cares.”

Warmth starts spreading from a thick blanket suddenly wrapped around him and he glances up in surprise. It’s an old Spider-Man blanket, some areas showing stitches that were definitely not part of the original design. Cobb Senior pats him on the back and smiles. That’s all it takes: appreciation and a smile. God, who knew he was this easy.

“Don’t get too excited yet. Discovering new information from Mal is like pulling teeth. If I show your son a new theory on dreamsharing, however, he’ll spill every detail of his life in an hour,” it’s grumbled angrily but the professor’s smile refuses to dim.

“They should call you sweetheart or darling instead of point man.” The man has the audacity to laugh at his reaction and it should not be as comforting as it is. The sense of the familiar is a powerful temptress when all you have is common sense, though.

“Actually, being in a job would help you in this endeavor. I’m trying to research this idea that recently popped up in my head. I’ve been in a relationship with my wife for fifty years. Over the decades, our lives have constantly changed. With and because of the changes, she and I have evolved into slightly different people. I believe our core beliefs remain mostly unchanged, but there are many things that’ve happened. Things I never would have dreamed would occur. I started imagining how we could delve deeper into such a prospect. But how can you measure evolution when time seems to drift ever so slowly? Would you spot these things, these changes? And then it came to me. Dreams.

“You know what it’s like, going under for five minutes and feeling an hour pass in your head. Even if a relatively handful of seconds have gone by in our reality, in this layer of perception, we still live those sixty minutes. So does this mean we evolve during that time? Could it be possible that a person would walk out of a dream being just a tad different than when they fell asleep? Dreamsharing poses the perfect opportunity for you to learn new things about anyone there with you, like Cobb and Mal. It could help you discover the truth. And who knows? It could be useful later on in other jobs.”

He can’t say it doesn’t intrigue him. Arthur sees the potential in the concept, rolls the idea around his head just to get a feel of it. It seemed plausible, especially with Mal and Cobb. They were the most constant aspect of the job since he rarely did more than four jobs with the same people. Trying to shift the perspective might be enough for him to notice if something is odd. If he actively pays attention, not as a friend but as a point man, what could he learn? 

The sun is almost set and Arthur doubts the professor’s students would be interested in having a stranger around the classroom. He rises to his feet, back cracking and knees creaking. You’d expect his body to be a bit more cooperative with all the work he does during missions. Sure, the exercise is technically nonexistent, what, with it happening inside his head, but. His life is already a big mess. Why can’t his body offer more than protest when he got out of bed or had to catch up to Philippa? Thirty years old and James already tired Arthur out after just an hour playing outside. At least Philippa purposely ran slower to let him have a chance at winning tag.

He goes for a handshake, but rather strong arms are wrapping around him and was this old man really stronger than Arthur? As soon as he got home, he was going for a jog around the apartment complex. Still, he’s certainly not complaining. The Cobb family hugs never fail to make him feel at home, safe. Not safe from ridiculous ideas, but nonetheless comfortable and relaxed. They stand there, arms around each other with Arthur wrapped in a Spider-Man blanket. Which, now that he thinks about it, has kept him warm through the last part of the conversation. The students he can see walking by the window are covered in layers, breath visible in the cold environment. How the hell did it get so cold this fast? He was not going to like living here for the next two months, no sir. 

The professor lets go slowly, careful so as to not jostle Arthur too much. It’s a move he’s caught Cobb doing with James and Pippa which implies his father did it to him. And now here he was, receiving that loving treatment. It warms him more than the blanket. Oh, right, the blanket. He grabs it, slides it onto the chair gently. It’s clear, in the vibrant colors and different threads, that this has been mended carefully over the years. There are six patches where he guesses there were once holes, but the sewing is immaculate. Nothing like his shirts when they got snagged and needed some work done.

“Keep it. It’s freezing outside, you only have that thin jacket and I happen to know for a fact that you’ll need to walk five minutes just to get out of campus. Assuming you are very lucky, a cab will pick you up in two minutes. I refuse to let you get sick and wet for that long. Out here, a few minutes feel like an hour under the rain. I doubt it’ll be stopping soon. Now don’t look at me like that. There is no harm done. My wife bought that for Dom when he was a child. Then my students got custody because there was always someone falling asleep in class and I rather have them take a nap to feel better than have depressed zombies around. It gets ridiculously cold here, but not to worry. They bought a stack of blankets and have them in the closet in case the temperature drops. I’d offer you one if there were any spares. So stop being conflicted, wrap it around you and promise me you will take a warm bath when you get home. Cobb has the habit of staying in damp clothes. I won’t allow you to do the same.”

And just like that, he’s shooed away, the professor walking him out the room. Arthur leaves with an intriguing concept, a new blanket and a deeper appreciation for the Cobb family. Traveling back home, he makes a promise in the back seat of a cab. He will figure out what was going on with Mal and Cobb. They would search for a solution and Arthur would stick to the side lines in case a referee or best friend was needed. Trying to follow the professor’s advice, he strips the wet clothes off, hangs the blanket to dry and falls head first onto cotton sheets. Life sucked, but the three of them would be ok.

A month later, Mal is buried under six feet of earth, Cobb is unable to see his kids and the migraines come back.

A year later, Saito asks for another favor from the team. Just like always, Arthur scolds Cobb every step of the way as they head to the airport. This time though, the first in a while, Philippa and James are there with their grandpa to wave them off. As he hauls his luggage up, he hides a smile when he hears Yusuf and Ariadne laughing about something. Eames is there, chatting with their own personal billionaire atop the stairs. They catch each other’s eye and he is transported to that rainy afternoon that happened so long ago. Maybe he can research Cobb Senior’s idea while on the job, see if the pull he feels leading him to a nimble fingered forger evolves into something more hands on. Eames smiles at him, just a slight inclination to his lips and yeah, his best friend being a daredevil with no common sense whatsoever definitely has its perks.


End file.
